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A millionaire advance payment for the frustrated purchase of a Cessna CJ3 / Cj4 Tube Jet aircraft, which had initially been satisfactorily received; Lawsuits in US courts against equipment suppliers, who delivered defective material, and the acquisition of a ship for the Navy, for 14 million dollars, which has not yet been used for anything, have a common element.
All these acquisitions were made by the Colombian Air Force Purchasing Agency (Acofa), based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, an exotic office attached to the Ministry of Defense that makes key purchases for the Army, Navy and Air Force. outside the Colombian contracting regulations.
(We invite you to read: The country paid 13.9 million dollars for a ship that has not served)
Only in the last 4 years it has sealed 1,988 contracts for more than 580 million dollars, without going through the 80 or contracting law and framing itself in the laws of Florida.
(It may interest you: The hunt for unfinished works for $ 25 billion begins)
And although the operation of this agency, practically unknown, is covered by decree 0952 of 1953, its acquisitions, personnel expenses and suppliers began to generate several questions among experts from the delegate for the Defense and Security sector of the Comptroller General of the Republic.
The ARC Caribe has been anchored in the Cartagena naval dock for two years. The Comptroller’s Office passed the case on to the Prosecutor’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office.
Comptroller General
In fact, although the agency was created 67 years ago (1953), for the first time and by order of the current comptroller Felipe Córdoba, a sector study was made of contracts and even expenses of the Florida headquarters staff, which, among others things, receives service commissions and installation expenses.
The interest in Acofa and its contracts was triggered by the discovery of some irregularities in purchases and acquisitions, contractual breaches of more than 10,000 million pesos, fines to suppliers that were never collected and even payments to alleged exclusive suppliers of goods and services.
(Also: Recording and chat knock down the Controller of Barranquilla)
Although these are anomalies in only a handful of the revised contracts, in some cases they have had a fiscal, disciplinary and even criminal scope, as in the case of the $ 14 million ship that is already in the hands of the Prosecutor’s Office and that splashes active officers.
Many of the acquisitions carried out by the agency are made through brokers, whose main role is to act as intermediaries in exchange for a commission.
Juicy commissions
EL TIEMPO, which denounced the case of the ship 20 days ago, had access to the sector study made to Acofa and in this the delegate Comptroller’s Office, led by Sebastián Montoya, raises fundamental doubts about the powerful purchasing agency.
The first of these points out that many of the acquisitions carried out by the agency are made through brokers, whose main role is to act as intermediaries in exchange for a commission.
(It could be of your interest: Operation Baton: uncovering corruption in the Army)
Fifty brokers are registered in the registry of its suppliers. In addition, of the 1,589 contracts that were signed for the FAC, 43 percent were with broker-type companies and only 27 percent, with manufacturers or their suppliers.
“The main contracts are not made with exclusive manufacturers or distributors, but with intermediaries. We believe that these brokers could probably come to Colombia in order to be carried out under the framework of law 80 and not governed by the law of Florida where the Colombian State is one more ”, explained the delegate.
(Another related topic: What happened to key files from Operation Baton?)
In addition, Montoya says that the Comptroller General is trying to understand if the agency is being used for what it was created: to acquire certain goods that are not available in Colombia or are urgently required.
The reason: although the majority of contracts are related to the aviation issue; purchases of lubricants, tires and even training courses for personnel were found.
“We wonder if this agency is indeed the best way to acquire these goods and services,” delegate Montoya told EL TIEMPO.
Also striking is the high number of requirements in aircraft such as the King B-300, of which there are only 9 units in operation; the Boeing C-40, in which there are two units; the Boeing 727, of which there is only one unit, and the C-130 Hercules, of which there are 4 units; in contrast to equipment such as the Black Hawk helicopters, of which there are 24 units, or the T-90 Calima, with 23 units, which presented fewer requirements.
And since for Acofa Law 80 does not apply, most contracts are direct and abbreviated: “What in Colombia is an exception, there is the rule.”
The delegate’s doubts
Operating costs are another relevant point. The agency costs the country annually about 6,000 million pesos and the highest cost is in the Acofa staff who remain in Fort Lauderdale. According to the Comptroller’s Office, it is 42 percent of the entity’s budget.
How do you select the staff that goes to Florida? Are irregularities and purchases not in line with the agency’s mission being investigated internally? Are you considering the need for it or an adjustment?
EL TIEMPO transmitted these questions to the commander of the FAC, General Ramsés Rueda, who made it known that the General Comptroller’s Office had already completed the investigation carried out against Acofa and the concept of the investigation was favorable. But the Defense and Security delegate, Sebastián Montoya, insists on raising doubts.
(See here all the articles of the EL TIEMPO Research Unit)
And he adds that, in addition, a decrease in the number of contracts was found in recent years, which means that Acofa is used less and less but it continues to cost the same for the treasury.
“We hope that the sector study will help the FAC to reevaluate and rethink certain aspects of the Agency to fulfill the purpose for which it was created,” Montoya said.
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